The Seduction of Emily

by Rachel Brimble

  He cleared his throat. “I do not regret our kiss for a single moment . . . but I accept it will be detrimental to both of us if it was to happen again.”

  She swallowed the lump of disappointment lodged in her throat. “Exactly.”

  “Milne is not the reason, though. What could he really do? Refuse to marry you?” He huffed out a breath. “Is that really such a concern to you? I think not.”

  She glanced at him. “It angers you . . . this lack of love between Nicholas and me. You cannot be ignorant to the amount of loveless marriages that exist in this world. None of us can. They’re everywhere.”

  His jaw tightened. “You deserve more than a life married to a man like him. Just because the bruise fades from your face doesn’t mean he won’t replace it.”

  Their eyes met and the rage in his stare ignited hers. “This is about choice, or lack thereof. Don’t you see that? I’m not happy, but don’t mistake that for naïveté.”

  “You think there isn’t a choice? Your fathers drew up a contract. That doesn’t mean it cannot be broken. It strikes me your father regrets its creation more than you do.”

  Disappointment that he didn’t sense her determination to ensure her children’s prosperity dropped like a lead weight into Emily’s stomach. The connection she sought from him broke and splintered. “My father needs to know his life’s work hasn’t been wasted and that I will benefit from it. That means everything to me. I have to do everything in my power to continue his legacy through family.”

  “Money is not a family’s legacy. Unconditional love is.”

  Anger pinched hot at her cheeks. “It’s my unconditional love that makes me willing to sacrifice, willing to compromise. I would live in poverty if it meant freedom to think and speak, but this isn’t about me. What right do I have to make that decision for my unborn children ?”

  “Milne is scum. He will ruin your life.” Will pulled on the reins and the horses slowed to a stop outside the milliner’s. “I will prove it to you if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Passion whispered over the surface of her skin as suspicion filtered through her mind. He had so much rage. Too much certainty about a man he supposedly met two weeks ago.

  He moved to stand and Emily clasped his hand. It trembled in her grasp.

  “You know him. You know Nicholas.”

  He stared at their joined hands and said nothing.

  “Tell me, Will. Are you truly in Bath looking for your nephew? Or are you here for something else entirely?”

  He met her eyes. “Why do you ask?”

  Emily stared deep into his eyes, her heart beating fast in anticipation he might tell her something she wasn’t certain she wanted to hear. “You are so carefree, so full of laughter until the moment Nicholas is seen or mentioned. Then this look overcomes you.”

  “What look?”

  She swallowed. “As though you could kill someone.”

  He stared for a moment longer before he jerked his hand from hers and swung abruptly from the gig.

  Emily trembled. She played with fire provoking an answer from him but she had to know. Whether she wanted it or not, Will filled her thoughts night and day and the anger inside him ran deep. The thought he suffered alone made her want to put her arms around him and ask him to share his burdens with her.

  He marched around to her side and offered his hand. She gathered her skirts and slid her gloved hand into his. Once her feet touched the pavement, he released her hand and offered his arm instead.

  “I will be gone from your life soon enough, but before I leave, I’m determined you will see there are other possibilities than marrying Milne. He is not the man to provide the wings you need to fly as high as God intended.”

  Her heart shifted. He believed in her. Thought her capable of more than being a wife to a man like Nicholas. He stepped toward the milliner’s with his jaw set and his stride determined. Emily walked beside him. The words she wanted to say scalded her tongue. He pushed the shop door and they stepped inside.

  The sight that greeted them forced Emily’s heart into her throat and her hand from Will’s arm.

  “Nicholas? Whatever are you doing here?”

  Nicholas and her friend Katherine leapt back from the counter as though they’d been struck. Will stiffened beside her. A silent, pregnant moment ensued before Nicholas stepped toward her, tugging at the bottom of his waistcoat, his chest puffed out like a caricature gibbon.

  “What am I doing here? Shouldn’t I be asking you the exact same question, my dear?” He tossed a glare at Will. “And with Mr. Samson, no less.”

  Emily looked to Katherine. She remained immobile behind the counter, clutching her darling little daughter, Aimee, to her chest. “Katherine? Are you all right?”

  Her friend nodded, her face pale. “Of course. It’s lovely to see you.”

  Emily’s senses leapt to high alert, her suspicions even more so. Katherine was far from all right. She turned to Nicholas. “I’m here looking for a new hat. As you so helpfully pointed out to me last week, my purple one is fit to be thrown in the River Avon. Why are you here?”

  His chest expanded farther. “Not that I owe you an explanation, but I was looking to buy you a new hat as a surprise.”

  He lied. Emily glanced at Katherine. Her eyes were wide with fear as though Emily might reach out and strike her. Something was profoundly amiss. Afraid her friend might swoon at any minute and send Aimee toppling to the floor, Emily swept toward her and grasped Katherine’s trembling elbow.

  She smiled. “Don’t look so worried. Nicholas and I wouldn’t be ourselves if we were not having crossed words. Isn’t that so, Nicholas?” She tickled little Aimee under the chin. The child giggled. When no answer came from Nicholas, she turned. “Nicholas?”

  Nicholas tossed a glare at Will before approaching the counter and possessively sliding his hand to the base of her spine. Emily’s stomach clenched.

  “Indeed, my love.” He stared at Katherine. “Now, where are those hats you were about to show me, Miss Carter? I trust your opinion implicitly seeing as you know Emily so well.”

  Katherine flinched. “I’m sorry?”

  “The hats, my dear girl. You were about to retrieve some new designs from the back room when Emily entered the shop and ruined my surprise.”

  Katherine blinked and then a bright smile lit up her face. “Of course, of course. The hats. I’ll just put Aimee down somewhere safe to play. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. Excuse me one moment.”

  She disappeared through a curtain behind her. Emily frowned. She was about to demand Nicholas explain his atrociously bossy attitude with her friend when a movement to her other side caught her attention. She turned.

  Will grinned at Nicholas in an exaggerated—and provocative—way.

  Emily glared. “Will? What is the matter with you?” She hoped her irritated tone belied her sudden attack of nerves. There was no mistaking the anger and distaste in Will’s eyes. She looked from one man to the other. The last thing she wanted was a showdown in such a public place.

  “Will? I asked you—”

  “Are you quite sure about that, Milne?” Will stared past her to Nicholas.

  Dread dropped like a stone in Emily’s stomach. Surely he wouldn’t start an altercation after what they’d said to each other during their journey? Clearly her feelings didn’t matter to him. Her brain was already struggling to find a plausible explanation when Nicholas would undoubtedly challenge the fact she held Will’s arm when she entered the shop, and now Will saw fit to torment him into an argument.

  Emily faced Nicholas and any possible words promptly lodged in her throat.

  “Am I sure about what, Samson?” His emerald eyes glowed like jewels.

  The atmosphere crackled with tension.

  “Are you certain the shopkeeper who is busy in the back putting your . . .” Will shook his head. “Apologies, I mean her child down to play, was really about to show you some ladies’ hats?”

  E
mily whipped her head from one man to the other as though her neck were made of rubber. Will was implying Aimee was Nicholas’s child. Her heart raced. The same thought had occurred to her time and time again. That was what she hoped to confirm one way or the other by coming there. She wanted to know. There was little she could do about it but she refused to let Nicholas go on thinking he had secrets safely hidden from her. He would learn she was not stupid and would confront him accordingly.

  Nausea whirled inside her. The worst thing about it would be Katherine’s betrayal. A friendship ruined. Yet another thing she held sacred in her life Nicholas would’ve destroyed. Nicholas being unfaithful and fathering an illegitimate child had little bearing seeing she held no romantic feelings toward him. It would be Katherine she’d lost.

  Nicholas moved his hand from her back and pinched his fingers into her waist. His anger palpable. “Well, of course she was. Do you always have to act like such an imbecile, Samson? For the life of me I cannot see what Emily’s father thinks he is achieving by—”

  “Only I cannot see a single item on this counter.” Will waved his hand, undeterred. “Or maybe you only entered the shop a moment before us?”

  His tone dripped with accusation and Emily momentarily forgot her concern about an altercation breaking out between them and, instead, waited for Nicholas’s reaction to Will’s inference.

  “Have you been here long, Nicholas?” She tipped her head back to look at him.

  He snapped his glare from Will to her. “Long enough to tire of the sight of these four walls . . . and the desire to buy you a present.”

  His pallor had paled to the color of window putty.

  “Has something happened between you and Katherine?”

  “Don’t be so ridiculous.”

  She glanced toward the curtain through which Katherine had disappeared. “If you upset our friends, we risk being solely reliant on each other’s company. I don’t imagine either of us favors that outcome, seeing how things are growing considerably distant between us.”

  Katherine re-entered the room before Nicholas could respond. Her friend’s cheeks flamed like two red tomatoes, marked by silver streaks showing she’d cried.

  Striding forward, Emily took Katherine’s hand. “I’m sorry if Nicholas has been brusque with you. You are my friend and I expect you to be treated as such.”

  Katherine cast a quick glance toward Nicholas, then Will, and finally back to Emily. “Everything is fine, honestly. Mr. Milne always shows me the greatest courtesy.”

  Will sniffed. “I’m sure he does.”

  The tone of his voice grated on Emily’s nerves. She was not prepared to stand there while he did nothing but throw out thinly veiled accusations. She turned. “If you have something you want to say, Will, then please just say it.”

  Please, Lord. Don’t let him say it. I want to speak to Katherine alone. Not here. Not like this.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but Nicholas released her and strode forward, making Emily stumble backward. He stopped toe-to-toe, eye-to-eye with Will.

  Emily looked from one to the other.

  Fury burned in their eyes.

  “Gentlemen, please. There is no need—”

  Nicholas jabbed his hand into the air, cutting her off. “First, I am not happy my fiancée sees fit to call a man she has barely known more than two weeks by his Christian name. Second, I can’t help thinking you suspect me of some kind of wrongdoing with regard to Miss Carter.”

  Will smiled. “If you were really here buying Miss Darson a gift, I’d have no problem with you at all. If she were mine, I’d buy her gifts every day.”

  Emily’s gasp merged with Katherine’s.

  Nicholas trembled.

  Emily bit her bottom lip. Her face flushed from Will’s fearless confession and her body tingled with excitement to see him not so much as flinch to have Nicholas standing so close to him.

  “I should thrash you.” Nicholas spat the words through clenched teeth.

  Will’s smile dissolved. “You won’t. It’s not in your nature to strike men, is it?”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean? You do not know me or anyone else in this town, Samson. You are a nobody. A nobody who is supposed to be looking for his nephew. Yet you seem to spend most of your time alone with my fiancée.”

  Will tilted his head toward Emily. “Look at her, Milne. Does she appear distraught her father has demanded it so?”

  Heat burned Emily’s cheeks. “Stop this. Both of you.”

  Will met her eyes and the anger burning in their royal blue depths made her shiver. He had absolutely no intention of stopping. Or maybe he didn’t know how. The fury came from him in waves, ricocheting from the walls around them. His gaze shot back to Nicholas. “Why don’t we all show a little integrity here?”

  Emily froze. What was he doing? He knew what it would do to her reputation, let alone Nicholas’ unpredictable temper, if he suspected anything between them. If Nicholas learned of their kiss, she and Will would never share another. Despite her insistence, there would be no repeat of it, suddenly that was her biggest fear.

  She took a step forward. “For goodness sake, what on earth do you think you are achieving by behaving this way?”

  “It’s time for some honesty. Time you told your fiancé how you really feel.”

  Anger, disappointment, and hurt burned inside her. An ache at the center of her chest was testament to just how little she knew this man she’d come to like too much, too soon. She blinked at the tears that pricked her eyes. “How I feel is I want you to keep your nose out of my relationship with Nicholas. It is none of your concern.”

  His gaze bored into hers. A dangerous fire flickered in the depths. “I’m not sure I can sit by and watch you give your life to a man who—”

  “That is exactly what you’ll do. This is my life, is it not? You have yours and you will soon leave Bath . . . God willing, with your nephew. You will no longer know me or anything about me, so you will stop this right now.”

  Emily trembled, her heart hammering painfully in her chest and her throat hurting from the threat of tears. Nicholas stood ramrod straight, his face scarlet with anger and his lips white. His hands were fisted at his sides.

  Emily looked to Katherine. “I am sorry to have ruined your morning, Katherine. We shall leave you in peace. I have nothing else I can say, except sorry.”

  Her friend stood pale and immobile, her gaze trained on Nicholas.

  Bitter anger roared in Emily’s breast. Anger toward Will, her father, her mother for dying so young, but most of all for her impossible situation. All the frustration, hurt, and desire to have more to live for whirled inside her on a gathering storm. She would not surrender to the scene Will demanded. It would do no one any good.

  When they were alone again, she would tell him the unforgivable effect his outburst would have on her reputation. Worse, her belief he understood her, maybe even cared about her, was washed away forever.

  She turned toward the door but Nicholas whipped out his hand and gripped her arm so tightly her pulse beat against his fingers.

  “We are not leaving until Mr. Samson explains his accusation. How dare you move to leave when I am not yet finished.”

  Anger flared and Emily yanked her arm in an attempt to free it.

  Nicholas held tight.

  She pulled again to no avail. “Let go, Nicholas. You’re hurting me.”

  His manic gaze shot to Will. “Come now, Mr. Samson. If you think you know something, spit it out.”

  Murderous rage glowed hot in Will’s eyes. His teeth clenched and bared like a vicious animal.

  Nicholas stepped back when Will brought his face close to his. “Take your hand off her or so help me God, Milne, I will beat you into next week.”

  Silence fell. Their unified breathing the only sound in the small shop.

  Nicholas dropped her arm. Emily stared at the two men facing each other, their reciprocated hatred etched on their faces. She
had to do something. She stepped between them and faced Nicholas because his eyes were the easier of the two to address. Will saw too much of what was inside her. Nicholas did not care.

  “This masculine parade needs to stop. Please take me home, Nicholas.”

  Will touched her arm. “You cannot leave with him knowing what you do.”

  She snapped her head around. He spoke of Aimee. She saw it clearly in the blue of his eyes, the furrow at his brow. Aimee was Nicholas’s child. Emily swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth and held his gaze. “As I told you before, my relationship with Nicholas is not your concern.”

  Disbelief followed by disappointment flashed across his gaze. “You want me to turn away? To look the other direction?”

  She tilted her chin and cursed the tears behind her eyes. “Yes.”

  Dread that he’d turn away and never look at her with interest, respect, or desire again surged through Emily’s senses. The need for distance between him and Nicholas was paramount. Why did he not see what his actions did to her plans for a secure life for her children? How their marriage kept her father’s life work intact?

  Silently, she begged him to trust her, to understand.

  If Aimee was indeed Nicholas’s child, the blame fell at his feet, not Katherine’s. The poor girl looked terrified. Too terrified to undoubtedly refuse Nicholas anything. Nicholas disgusted her—Will the opposite. If there was any other way. If she could watch everything her father gave her be taken by Nicholas . . .

  That thought made her sick to her stomach. The longer Will was in Bath, the more of a distraction he became. The man tilted her axis from her deep need to live her life free of constraint or financial problems for her children.

  Will shook his head. “This is insane.”

  She swallowed. “That is your opinion.”

  He stared. “Emily, for the love of God—”

  “Will, please.”